Almost Time

Ethan eagerly anticipates making maple syrup with his father, but it will not be time until the days are warmer, the nights shorter, and Ethan's loose tooth falls out.

This is a story of a large family, ten. I dedicate it to all the families in the world-to all the mothers and fathers that have had incidents happen to them like the ones that happened to us and haven't had the courage or the opportunity, whichever it takes, to confess to them in writing. Many of you will recognize yourselves in some of the situations I describe, and that is how it should be, for we all have stories to tell. We're just humans, therefore all alike. So sit yourself down in a cozy chair and relax because we're going to be together for a while. If you happen to laugh occasionally and some member of your family stares at you strangely, tell them you're reading about something they have done and it got funnier in the retelling. Remember old times, and laugh with me, my friends.

The Hitchhiker in Time columns were the single most popular things ever written by Shawn M. Tomlinson, which honestly doesn't say all that much. All together, they appeared in fewer than 10 newspapers between 1988 and 2001. Well, multiple copies of those newspapers, of course. The highest circulation was approximately 40,000, so not exactly Bob Greene levels. Still, Tomlinson had a following with these columns and to a great extent, they hold up well today. Either that or Tomlinson would like to think so. Many of these columns appeared in chapbooks over the years, but this is the first full collection of them to be in print.

Nina LaCour meets Jenny Han in this beautiful and charming story of six moments that lead to two girls, one kiss, and eventually, three little words that were maybe always true. After years of bickering, Penny and Tate have called a truce: they’ll play nice. They have to. Their mothers (life-long best friends) need them to be perfect, drama-free daughters when Penny’s mother becomes a living liver donor to Tate’s mom. Forced to live together as their moms recover, the girls’ truce is essential in keeping everything—their jobs, the house, the finances, the Moms’ healing—running smoothly. They’ve got to let this thing between them go. There’s one little hitch: Penny and Tate keep almost kissing. It’s just this confusing thing that keeps happening. You know, from time to time. For basically their entire teenaged existence. They’ve never talked about it. They’ve always ignored it in the aftermath. But now they’re living across the hall from each other. And some things—like their kisses—can’t be almosts forever. Told through the two girls’ present, and six moments from their past, this dynamic love story shows that sometimes the person you need the most has been there for you all along.

Time and the literary: the immediacy of information technology has supposedly annihilated both. Email, cell phones, satellite broadcasting seem to have ended the long-standing tradition of encoding our experience of time through writing. Paul de Man's seminal essay "Literary History and Literary Modernity" and newly commissioned essays on everything from the human genome to grammatical tenses argue, however that the literary constantly reconstructs our understanding of time. From eleventh-century France or a science-fiction future, Time and the Literary shows how these two concepts have been and will continue to influence each other.

Six fun facts about PENNY and TATE: 1. They've known each other their whole lives 2. Their moms are best friends 3. They are DEFINITELY NOT friends 4. They keep almost kissing 5. They don't talk about it 6. Thanks to their moms, they're moving in together ... But when an almost-kiss goes from almost to I am now wearing your lip gloss, Penny and Tate have no choice but to finally face the music ... right? An utterly compelling will-they-won't-they slow-burn queer romance from the author of THE GIRLS I'VE BEEN. Praise for The Girls I've Been: 'Unlike anything I've read before... immediate, gripping, incredibly tense, heart-breaking, heart-warming and FUN!' Holly Jackson, author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder 'Slick, stylish and full of suspense' Sophie McKenzie 'Grifters! Secret identities! Death-defying escapes! The Girls I've Been is a powerful gut-punch of a book that will leave you reeling long after its final pages. I couldn't put it down!' Chelsea Pitcher 'Oh my god, I could hardly breathe until I finished. The tension! Absolutely loved it' Emily Barr

An inspiring and compelling memoir from a young woman who lost her childhood to slavery—and built a new life grounded in determination and justice. When Shyima Hall was eight years old, her impoverished parents sold her to pay a debt. Two years later, the wealthy family she was sold to moved to Orange County, California, and smuggled her with them. Shyima served the family eighteen hours a day, seven days a week until she was twelve. That’s when an anonymous call from a neighbor brought about the end of Shyima’s servitude—but her journey to true freedom was far from over. A volunteer at her local police department since she was a teenager, Shyima is passionate about helping to rescue others who are in bondage. Now a US citizen, she regularly speaks out about human trafficking and intends to one day become an immigration officer. In Hidden Girl, Shyima “commands unfailing interest, sympathy, and respect” (Publishers Weekly), candidly reveals how she overcame her harrowing circumstances, and brings vital awareness to a timely and relevant topic.

Shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize Like fireflies to the light, Mona, Benny and Jimmy are drawn into the elegantly wasted orbit of the Crystal Ballroom and the post-punk scene of 80s Melbourne, a world that includes Nick Cave and Dodge, a photographer pushing his art to the edge. With precision and richness Kirsten Krauth hauntingly evokes the power of music to infuse our lives, while diving deep into loss, beauty, innocence and agency. Filled with unforgettable characters, the novel is above all about the shapes that love can take and the many ways we express tenderness throughout a lifetime. As it moves between the Blue Mountains and Melbourne, Sydney and Castlemaine, Almost a Mirror reflects on the healing power of creativity and the everyday sacredness of family and friendship in the face of unexpected tragedy.